RUBBER FOR DEFENSE ...........................
Cooperation of the Rubber Industry with Defense
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I N D U S T R I A L A N D B N Q I N B E R I N G CHEMISTRY
importent pmblem of keeping the stock pile fresh by rotating it for the Government. Tbe industry will take for consump tion rubber which bas been in the government stocks about BS long BS is sale, and replace it with new imported rubber. In other words, the industry will use government rubber that is eomewhat old, and replace it with new rubber of its own. The whole operation has been accomplished with a high deof efficiencyand with a minimum of dislocation in supply and price during a period of unprecedented world turmoil. The point I want to emphasize is that it repreeents an instance of effective and dose cooperation between the Government is probably the most and industry in s o o o m p what ~ the aquisiimportant rubber objective in del-namely, tion of an adequate msupply of d e rubber. AB to nynthetic rubber, ~ u are workingfband io hand with the Goverumaot to provide, through a greatm production of 8JT~thetiC rubber, a & m e a m Of h U n r n C e against a e b l e interrnption in our 8011lce of supply of crude rubber. Similarly, the m a p rubber industry and the reelaiming industry have bent every dart to aemm adequate supply of tbia raw matarial and have m d e d in meeting the exceptionally heavy demands d e upon them. They bave slso worked olosely with government representatives in studying plane for increasing the supply if developments should make this neoesasry.
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Restriction Program Another general way in which the rubber industry bas 00operated in the defense effort is in the axemtion of the restriction program on rubber mmmption. In the adminig tration of this restriction pmgnun the Guvernment hss had the advice and qe&tgncs of a D6fene.e Industry Advko~y Committeeon rubber, wmkting of seventeen membra drawn from the industry. There is also an Industry Committee
on labor appointed by the Labor Division of OPM, 88 well u subcommittee appointed from industry on labor problems. The aid which these committea bave given and the way in which members of the industry are cooperating make it possible to oany out the restriction plogrsm with a minimum of dislocation tb all the branches of American industry thut depend on rubher. If there is anyone who thinks that the rubber industry could be cut in half without appreciable repercussion on 8 ~ sential American industry, which is part of our defense, he is not f&r with the part rubber plays in all vital industry, After all, what is the rubber industry? Roughly, 75 per cent of all our rubber goes into higbwuy transportation, most of it essential transportstion; although many paesenger cam are used ~ for pleasure some of the time, most of them are used a good deal for important businesa purposes, such BS camying people to their work. We need not dwell on the fact that in the emergency it is necessary to maintain all forms of transportation, including highway transportation, at a high level of efficiency. About 10 per cent of all ow rubber goes into mechanical rubber goods such ae belting, packing, molded goods, and many other types. Most of them m e c m d goods are the Lifeblood of American industry, without which neither the existing p b t e nor the new defense plants oould operate. About 6 per cent of all the r u b h goes into rubher footwear, heels, and soles that are needed for the protection of health and for the use of people in their daily work, including extensive use by the Army and Navy. About 4 per cent of onr rubber goes into the wire and cable industry, which play^ a vitally important role in direct dafense and in our communication E J B ~ I U . Smaller percentages go into such essential products BB hard rubber goods nefor the operatiou of many industries, into rubberized fabrics used in furnishing raincoats and other waterproofed articles both to the Army and Navy and to civilians, for drug sundries and other miscellsnaou% products easentisl for the nation's health, into rubber mounthg which Bushion ow whole trampor& tion system. The rubber industry is for the most part a service industry, providing indispenssble psrts for the s u m ful operation of d American induetrien. Thee vital rubber pa& run through every eaaantial industry like a dominant thread pattern through a oarpet. Without rubber our various sy&m~ of transportation could not function, our industrial plants could not run, our communication system would break down, our health could not be dectively protected, our shoe and..clothing industriea would be BS
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A Spschl Smp Solution 1s Made in This Tank and Used to Ernuldfy the Butdkne and Other Ingredients Goin# into the Manufacture of Rymr 0. R.
Vol. 33, No. 11
IX~DDM; ii csrrsing out the restriction progrmn d divisions of the industry are cooperating with the Government in working out a Btnplitiostion and conservation program that will earm to cnsbion the impmt of reduced oonsumption. J h n Mom the redrictjon d e r was b e d , the variaus divisions of the industm undwtook to con-
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tbb pounds and speciticstionS, by cbanging their oonstruction, by eliminating unnecessary types and h a . They are
sww Nbber by ~~cdif*
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N&,
1941
I N D U S T R I A L A N D E N 0 I N E E R I N 0 .CH E M 1 ST R Y
stiu working to this end, because an afteative eimpIi9cation prcgram is something that demands continuing &ort. The sdminiatrstion of the restriction program 6ss brought to light a number of s p e d pmbW. It is only natmsl that eaah member of the indshould consider his own problem the most diilicult and the most unuanal. We knew that the tire people and the mechanid g d s people would tell us about their i n d i s ~ h i l i t y . v e a similar argument We knew that we would w from the footwear and heel and sole people, the wire and cable people, and manufacturem of medid goods. Likewise, fruit-&ring people had to cope with an abnormally large crop of fruit this yesr which has to be preserved in the interest of natiotionsl defense. While we were struggling with that problem, the flypawmanufacturere reminded us that they $%o use rubber andare an eeaential part of the defense program because the arntonmenta sad the dairies csmot be kept in a satisfactory condition without flypaper. Rubber in Warfare But the most Bienifroant contriiution of the rubber industry to defense lien in the nature of modeap warfare. The saying that an army mows on ita belly was no doubt true in Napoleon’s day, and I do not intend to imply that the rrmooth funationing of the soldier’s diumtive ~Jlstemois unhportant-today, hut me&a&ed w d a r e meam that an amy and ita supplies must move swiftly and mkwtldy, and that meam they must move on
rubber.
c m m ~~.0 0 d - ~ i . sn.,bh comprnl In Larp Reactors Butadiem Is Mixed dth Other Inaredent. end an Emul.ifyh b e n t and W a r d for -1
Hours, to ProzfChemigurn Lotex The in!portmce of 8peed in reaching an objeative mth both men and equipment cannot be streesed too much. In the paet it WBB considered an aohievwmat for an army moving on foot to oove20mileeinaday; tadiyamechanued .army The expenence of bombed cltles revwla the importance ot maybe rqniredto move twioe that distance in an hour. The 6re hose in modem warfare. Less well known is the imporonly way in whiah the vehiclps used in d a r e arntravel with tance of pressure hoae, both oil and air,used to operate conthe neceflsary speed, in some csdee up to 40 or 60 miles an hour, is by moving on rubber. It is evident, then, that mod- trola from remote positions such as m o t e control of gun e m mechanized warfare cannot be waged without depending elevations. Belting, packing,and other meahaniml gaods are used in large quantitieafor direct defense and are indispemsheavily on rubber for ita transport. abie for all industriq that produce for defeme. Not only in the transportation field must the modern army The contribution to defense of the rubber wire and mblt and navy rely on rubber. Warfare bas become more aaientSa, more accnrate, and u8e8 more took, more instrumenta of indusky is partianlarly important. AseauIt wireismadeb ~pplyinginsulatioakttheformof rubberlatex. LatexkuaBd control, and more pmtactive device8 against injury. The bemuse it will give LL layer of insnlation of the I& &le rubber induntry has contributed in many ways to these m o m intended to make the conduct 01 wadare more ~cientilicand thickaeas yet strong aqd durable enongh to w i t b d &cc more aftective. conditions, and so light that a soldier is able to carry long The motorized units must be equipped with tires or with lengthe of sssault wire up to distant points of battle. Mter rubber traoks or with a combination of the two, and many of the ground isgained and hss ban orpsniaed, the wireis rethe combat vehicles must have a s p e d combat tire whiah is places by a 8tsndstd fieId telephone wire insulated with a either bullebproof or punctureaedhg, or which w i l l M for a rubber compound applied to a greater thiakness. cartah length of time even when Bat. Tanka, which have Another interesting developmentis the u88 of control cables maintained speeds up to 45 miles an hour on the highway, f o r s e a m h l i g h t a n d a n ~ g u n g n n . ourharhasare travel on rubber tracks. protested by submarine minee controlled from shm by A development of the highest importance is the peafeution rubberinanlahi cablee. Rubber wires and cablea are used of hulleesealing gas t& and hose for airplanes and m b n t to operate muah of the eleatrid apparatusiocsted in the gun vebialea. After long and arduous study, members of the turrete of battleships. sti d e r important funation of rubber industry have been able to develop a type of tank lin- rubber mblea is to pmhat ships agsinst megnetia minea by ing and hose which, becaw of their aftective bulletsesling meana of degawing equipment. h g a quanti+ of nibohsrscteristics, safeguard the fuel supply of a plane or other ber-insnl8ted cableaare used to fom the . mde mmbat vehicle. Airplanes are likewine protected e g h d the ganeaing belt around the ship to p r u W w m a danger from ice formations by de-ioers, which are L I I I ~ ~ -~ D R miees. rubber attgohmenta. T& and airplanes are quipped with special rubber pads
I N D U S T B L A L A l l 0 ENfiOI#EBRINC.
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Val. 33, No. 11
CHEMISTRY
The rubber i n d m has moperatdand is moperatingwith the’Govemmmt in pmviding for an adequate supply of &e, SJmthetiC, and rdaimed rubber. It is owpeaatins in our tailing the uee of &e rubber with the minimum of dialom tionto essential industry. It is moperating in the highly& portant problem of adapting ow military and M Vmachines ~
to modern mechanued . wsrtare. Thisadaptati~togive the d u m speed 8nd efEciency, n3quiresmanJ.ohanges in rubber products whioh have previously been used in d a r e and the development of new typea of rubber goods. The pmgreee made by the rubber industry in mppl*. theen defame needs is evidenca of the alose moperaion be
&.vital
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tweentheindustryandow~~andnsvalserviasS.
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* (Above)
Reoctors and Instrument Panel Which Carefully Controls the Polymeriwtion Processes Resulting i n Hycar S y n t h e t i c Rubber cmucesy, ny-
c h o m i d Colpn,
*. (Left) In a Steadily Incrming Flow, Thiokol Is Coming the Convtyor Belts
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add ColP.p,
